“Release of ten people in pre-trial detention”, headlined the Egyptian daily on June 14 Al-Shorouk, citing information provided by lawyer and human rights defender Khaled Ali on his Facebook account. The day before, he had already published a list of 26 other prisoners released by court order. The website Rassd News Network talks about the release of 15 people.
These differences in figures are explained by the fact that these releases follow each other day by day and that no one has the same criteria or the same information available. “Since April, the total number of political prisoners released by decision of the prosecution is 87, not counting the releases decided behind closed doors”, reports the independent Egyptian site Mada Masr.
The other major Egyptian opposition site Al-Manassa only counts 60 for the same period. Among the best-known prisoners to have been granted amnesty are film producer Moataz Abdelwahab, arrested in 2020, as well as Magdy Qorqor, arrested in 2019, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadid.
Too slow a pace
Both are however in agreement to regret an insufficient number of released prisoners, even a “slow-down” the pace of releases, according to Al-Manassa. This situation would even have caused “dissatisfaction and complaints” among